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Alcestis, a MythSource painting
Greek

Alcestis

The Noblest of Women · The Best of Wives · Queen of Pherae

01Identity

Alcestis in Greek tradition

A decision to die for her husband sets Alcestis apart: she accepted death in Admetus’s place when his parents refused to surrender their remaining days. She was the daughter of Pelias and became queen of Pherae as Admetus’s wife. Unlike Admetus, who sought another person’s life to replace his own, Alcestis made the sacrifice herself and was later restored by Heracles.

Top questions

The quick answers

02Family

Alcestis’s family, at a glance

Parents above, children below, and the figure’s consorts named in between, the same family data as the fact box, laid out as a chart instead of a field list.

PeliasAnaxibia
AlcestisEvadne

with Admetus

Eumelus
03The names

The names Alcestis answers to

Alkestis

Greek form of the name

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

Daughter of Pelias

Her parentage as a daughter of the Thessalian king Pelias

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

Queen of Pherae

Her position as the wife of King Admetus

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

04The myths

The myths of Alcestis

2 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.

Alcestis Gives Her Life for Admetus

Pelias promised Alcestis, the most beautiful of his daughters, to the man who could yoke a wild boar and a lion to a chariot and drive them around the race-course at Iolcus. Many kings and princes sought her, so this condition allowed Pelias to avoid choosing between them. Admetus, king of Pherae, asked Apollo for help. Zeus had bound Apollo to serve as a herdsman, and Admetus had treated him with respect. Apollo had rewarded him by making all his ewes bear twins. He agreed to grant this final favour. Heracles helped tame the beasts, and Admetus drove them around the course. He then won Alcestis as his wife.

Later, Hermes came to the palace and summoned Admetus to Tartarus. Apollo gained him a short reprieve by making the Three Fates drunk, delaying the cutting of his life thread. Admetus hurried to his aged parents and begged each to surrender the rest of their life so that he might live. Both refused. They said that life was still sweet and that he should accept the fate appointed to everyone.

Alcestis alone accepted the sacrifice. She took poison, and her ghost descended to Tartarus. Another account says that she secretly devoted herself to death, fell mortally ill as Admetus recovered, and died in his arms. Admetus buried her. He had regarded the rites of hospitality as sacred, so he initially concealed his bereavement when Heracles arrived at the palace.

When Heracles learned what had happened, he went down to the tomb. He seized Death and held him until Death promised to restore Alcestis to her family. In another version, Persephone judged it wrong for a wife to die in place of her husband and sent Alcestis back to the upper air. A further version says that Hades came to take Admetus, Alcestis offered to replace him, and Heracles rescued her with a new wild olive club.

Alcestis Gives Her Life for Admetus, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

2 sources· checked 2026-08-18

  1. 1The Greek MythsT1
  2. 2Apollodorus, The LibraryT1

    Quote

    “Apollo obtained a reprieve for Admetus, Alcestis died for him after his parents refused, and Heracles seized Death until he agreed to release her.”

    Apollodorus, The Library

Heracles Restores Alcestis

Alcestis was seized by mortal sickness while Admetus, king of Pherae, recovered from the illness that had threatened his life. Admetus had been told that he could escape death if another person surrendered their remaining life for his. He asked his aged parents to make the sacrifice, but both refused. Alcestis then gave herself for her husband and died in his place.

Admetus held the rites of hospitality sacred. When Heracles arrived at his palace, Alcestis had just died or had already been placed in her tomb, depending on the telling. Admetus concealed his grief and received his guest without revealing the loss. Heracles later learned what had happened. He felt remorse for his earlier lack of tact and resolved to repay Admetus for his hospitality.

Heracles went to Alcestis’s tomb and waited for Death, called Thanatos, to come for his prey. When Death appeared, Heracles sprang upon him and locked his arms around him. He used his great strength to hold Death until the god agreed to give Alcestis back. Heracles then brought her alive to Admetus and restored her to her family.

Another account says that Alcestis’s ghost descended to Tartarus after taking poison. Persephone judged it wrong for a wife to die in her husband’s place and sent Alcestis back to the upper air. In that version, Hades came in person to take Admetus, Alcestis offered herself instead, and Heracles arrived with a wild-olive club and rescued her. The account based on Euripides has Heracles wrestling with Thanatos, rather than with Hades himself.

Heracles Restores Alcestis, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-18

  1. 1Greek Myths & TalesT1
  2. 2Apollodorus, The LibraryT1

    Quote

    “Alcestis died in place of Admetus, and Heracles, repaying the king’s hospitality, wrestled with Thanatos and restored her to her husband.”

    Apollodorus, The Library

  3. 3The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)T1

Also appears in

The myths across MythSource where Alcestis features, each on that figure’s page.

The film

The Underdrawing video on Alcestis embeds here once it publishes.